Kames Four

Here's the fourth and final full-length LP from Bob Kames that I'm resharing with you today. This one champions the sound of the new Hammond Organ X-66! And what a sound it is! Well, maybe, maybe not. You be the judge. Download Bob Kames-Merry Christmas From Bob Kames And The New Hammond Organ X-66 (King 1039, Stereo, 1968) and see.

1.Silent Night
2. Oh Come All Ye Faithful
3. The First Noel
4. Joy To The World
5. Oh! Holy Night
6. Oh Little Town Of Bethlehem
7. Hark The Herald Angels Sing
8. O Sanctissima
9. White Christmas
10. Santa Claus Is Coming To Town
11. Please Come Home For Christmas
12. Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer
13. Silver Bells
14. Let's Light The Christmas Tree
15. Jingle Bells
16. Christmas Island

Maybe more to come???

Kames Three

As you might have guessed from the title of this post, this is the third Bob Kames LP I am resharing with you today. I hope you're enjoying these records. Yes, they're a guy at the organ, same as so many of the Christmas records I share, but they also seem to have more high points than most, what with the occasional spoken word track or novelty piece. Or, if you're like me, perhaps you just want more Christmas music. Either way, why not download Bob Kames-Organ And Chimes #3-Happy Holidays (King 768 (reissued By Gusto Records, 1976), Stereo, 1961).

1. Cantique De Noel
2. Away In A Manger
3. We Three Kings Of Orient Are
4. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
5. The Story Of Christmas
6. I Saw Three Ships
7. O Sanctissima
8. O Come Little Children
9. All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth
10. Toyland
11. Happy Holiday
12. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
13. Christmas Waltz
14. It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas
15. The Holiday Polka
16. Auld Lang Syne

Stay tuned, more to come...

Kames Two

This is the second of the Bob Kames records I shared out last year. For a guy who made four (and a half) Christmas records, I was pretty amazed that I'd never come across any of them before last year. But I suppose stranger things have happened. Please download and enjoy Bob Kames-Organ And Chimes #2-It's Christmas Time (Gusto K-722 (Originally King 722, 1960), Stereo, 1976).

1. Here Comes Santa Claus
2. I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus
3. Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow
4. Dancing The Christmas Tree Round
5. Frosty The Snowman
6. Seasons Greetings
7. The Night Before Christmas (Narration)
8. Christmas Tree Polka
9. Ave Maria
10. Light Of The World
11. Deck The Halls (With Boughs Of Holly)
12. Away In A Manger
13. Oh Tannenbaum
14. Christmas Island
15. Mrs. Santa Claus
16. I'll Be Home For Christmas

Yes, plenty more still to come...

Kames One

I shared out a fairly large stack of Bob Kames records with you last year, and I wanted to reshare them all this year. I don't have to much new say about them that I didn't say then, so if you want to read about this one, go here, if you want download and listen to this first one of the season, go to Bob Kames-Organ And Chimes-15 Songs Of Christmas (King 679, Stereo, 1959).

1. Silent Night
2. The First Noel
3. O Little Town Of Bethlehem
4. It Came Upon A Midnight Clear
5. Joy To The World
6. O Come All Ye Faithful
7. Hark The Herald Angels Sing
8. Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer
9. The Chipmunk Song
10. Santa Claus Is Coming To Town
11. White Christmas
12. Jingle Bells
13. Silver Bells
14. Winter Wonderland
15. On Christmas Eve

Three more to come...

Three Waring

My third and final Waring share for the day is this succinct, yet great, version of The Nutcracker Suite. I think this ranks right up there with the version by the master himself, Spike Jones. This is a recording of the 45 I found many years ago, but I have since discovered it on 12" 78 RPM shellac. I keep meaning to record that one, just to see how it sounds, but I need to get a record player that spins at the appropriate speed, and a needle that fits those big fat grooves. I guess I've got something to look forward to for next Christmas. Anyhow, first shared at Christmas 2006, this is Fred Waring And His Pennsylvanians-Nutcracker Suite (Decca 1-111 7", Mono, 1950).

1. Overture
2. Dance Of The Sugar Plums
3. Trepak
4. Dance Of The Toy Flutes
5. Waltz Of The Flowers

Almost Full

As I got in my car after work this evening, I noticed the moon was already up. It's almost full, and I think tomorrow night is the big night. Lucky for me, I've still got that nice 400mm lens, so I pulled it out and squeezed off a few shots. I think this is pretty impressive. Although I'm starting to entertain notions of renting a 600mm prime lens for a few hundred dollars some day... It's an addiction I tell you!

Annual Christmas

I found these three magazines a couple years ago at a Goodwill store. They appeared to be from some sort of church library, and I haven't seen anything like them before or since. They're magazines titled Christmas: An American Annual Of Christmas Literature And Art. I see lots of people selling them on the internet, but no information as to what they are. Seems odd to only put out a magazine once a year. The issue above is from 1960, below is 1957 and bottom is 1959. Each one is printed on thick stock meant to last a few years, not your typical magazine slicks. They are filled with lavish color illustrations and articles, most of which seem more European than American, but I'm no expert. Wikipedia yields one article on the publisher, Augsburg Publishing House, and another article on Randolph Edgar Haugan, who seems to have had something to do with the publishing.

Two Waring

One is never enough, so how about a second from Fred Waring and his boys from Pennsylvania? I first shared this in 2007, and it's proven to be not nearly so popular as my other Fred Waring shares. Oh, well, you can't win them all. It's still good, I think. Why don't you download it and tell me what you think. Here's Fred Waring And The Pennsylvanians-Christmas Time (Decca DL 78172, Stereo).

1. When Angels Sang Of Peace
2. It Came Upon The Midnight Clear
3. Deck The Hall
4. Joy To The World
5. The Christmas Song (Merry Christmas To You)
6. The Coventry Carol
7. A Music Christmas Card-O Christmas Tree-The Sleigh
8. Kentucky Wassail Song-Parade Of The Wooden Soldiers
9. Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
10. God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen
11. Heigh Ho The Holly-See Amid The Winter's Snow
12. Behold That Star-Carols Of The Bells
13. Luther's Cradle Hymn
14. Alleluia
15. Gloria In Excelsis

One Waring

Hands down, bar none, this is the most popular record I've ever shared. It's head and shoulders above the rest. I don't know that it's any better than all of my other shares, but a lot of people seem to have a fond memory of it, and that seems to be what motivates most of my visitors. So I won't waste any of your time by telling you all about what you're downloading, 'cause I have a feeling you already know all about it. Here is Fred Waring And The Pennsylvanians-'Twas The Night Before Christmas (Decca DL 8171, Mono, 1955).

1. Jingle Bells
2. Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer
3. Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town
4. 'Twas The Night Before Christmas
5. Adeste Fideles (O, Come All Ye Faithful)
6. Beautiful Savior
7. The First Nowell; O, Little Town Of Bethlehem; Carol Of The Bells
8. Cantique De Noel (O Holy Night)
9. Oh Gathering Clouds
10. Silent Night

What's A Nash?

One of my mostest favoritest spoken-word Christmas records of all time is this one right here. I first shared this with you last year, and if you didn't get it then, don't miss it now. Please run out immediately and download Ogden Nash-Christmas With Ogden Nash (Caedmon TC 1323, Stereo, 1970). For the sake of comparison, you should give a listen to Peter Ustinov reading this version of Nutcracker Suite (with music by Percy Faith) that I shared out during Christmas In July. It's not as good, but it's still not bad.

1. The Christmas That Almost Wasn't
2. An Untold Adventure Of Santa Claus
3. The Boy Who Laughed At Santa Claus
4. A Carol For Children
5. I'm A Pleasure To Shop For
6. I Remember Yule
7. The Miraculous Countdown
8. Nutcracker Suite
9. Sugarplum Dance
10. Russian Dance
11. Arabian Dance
12. Chinese Dance
13. The Flutes
14. The Waltz Of The Flowers

More Choral

If you liked that last post by The Pete King Chorale, then I'm sure you'll enjoy this one as well. There's quite the story behind this music, but I'm not going to get into it here. You can read all about it on the original post from 2007, as well as the post of the mono version with a much better cover from that same year. For now, trust me that this is more great choral music. Don't hesitate to download The Jack Halloran Singers-The Little Drummer Boy (Dot DLP 25233, Stereo, 1959). The cover below is yet another variation I've found, and I think someone told me they've got yet another. This is one of those records that's been re-issued a time or three.


1. The Little Drummer Boy
2. Christmas Is A-Comin'
3. I Wonder As I Wander
4. While Shepherds Watched Their Sheep
5. Lullaby For The Infant Jesus
6. The Holly And The Ivy
7. Deck The Halls
8. Adeste Fideles
9. Joy To The World
10. O Little Town Of Bethlehem
11. Pat-A-Pan
12. Mary's Little Boy Child
13. Go Tell It On The Mountain
14. The Prince Of Peace
15. Angels We Have Heard On High
16. It Came Upon A Midnight Clear
17. The First Noel
18. Silent Night
19. We Wish You A Merry Christmas
(I think some of those are medleys, but I screwed up when I ripped the LP. Sorry...)

God Save The King

One of my favorite shares from last year is this LP by The Pete King Chorale. If you love choral Christmas music, then this is the record you're looking for. Better grab it quick before the season gets to far gone. Please download The Pete King Chorale And Orchestra-Christmas Time (Kapp KS-3214, Stereo, 1960).

1. My Favorite Things
2. Silver Bells
3. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen-It Came Upon The Midnight Clear-Joy To The World
4. The Christmas Song (Featuring Beth Adlam)
5. Sleigh Ride
6. Adeste Fideles-Silent Night
7. The Night Before Christmas
8. The Little Drummer Boy
9. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas (Featuring Beth Adlam)
10. Mary's Little Boy Child
11. The First Noel-Away In A Manger-Oh, Holy Night
12. White Christmas

Double Dose Of Christmas

From deep in the archives, I'm running a two-for-one special tonight on Christmas downloads. Not only can you download the LP you see above, you can also download the one you see below. Yes, I know they look the same, but they aren't. They're actually parts one and two of a set I first shared in 2006. Except in that year, you didn't get them both in the same post, you had to go here and here to get them. Times change... So why don't you be my guest and go download Saint Patrick's Cathedral Choir Sings Christmas Carols (Roulette SR 25097, Stereo, 1959) and Saint Patrick's Cathedral Choir Sings Christmas Songs-Volume 2 (Roulette SR 25142, Stereo, 1961). You won't be disappointed.

Volume 1:
1. The First Noel
2. Come To The Manger
3. Carol Of The Russian Children
4. Gesu Bambino
5. Jesu, Thou Dear Babe Divine
6. The March of The Kings
7. Silent Night
8. Joy To The World
9. Carol Of The Bells
10. The Sleep Of The Child, Jesus
11. That Christmas Long Ago
12. Carol Of The Drum

Volume 2:
1. Oh Come All Ye Faithful
2. The Christmas Hymn
3. Hark, The Herald Angels Sing
4. The Christmas Carol Of The Indian
5. The Innkeeper's Carol
6. Oh Little Town Of Bethlehem
7. We Three Kings Of Orient Are
8. It Came Upon The Midnight Clear
9. Angels We Have Heard On High
10. Carol Of The Birds
11. Lo, How A Rose
12. Oh Holy Night

Week In Review-1

Well, here we are at the end of the first week of Christmas Sharity 2009. Well, I guess it really hasn't been a week, it's only been four day. But it sure seems like a week. I'm pretty unhappy about the lack of new stuff I have to share with you this season. But I hope you're enjoying some of the stuff I'm posting from years past. Hopefully, you'll find something in there that you missed the first time around. I'm working on some new stuff, but it takes a little time, and as you know, time is in short supply around the holidays. At the end of each week, I like to make a little list and link to all of the shares from the week, I think it helps you to make sure you've seen everything, and helps me keep track of what I've already thrown out there for you. So, let's begin.

Spencer Ross-Thanksgiving Day Parade
Squanto And The First Thanksgiving
Two Thanksgiving Songs (New!!!)
Maurice Copeland-How We Got Our Christmas Customs
Jose Melis-Christmas With Melis
Christmas Carols By The Lighthouse Singers
George Wright-Christmas Time
A Merry Christmas To You From David Rose And His Orchestra
Christmas 1968 With The Going Thing
The Joy Strings-Well Seasoned
Charo-(Mamacita) ¿Donde Esta Santa Claus?
Les Djinnes Singers-60 French Girls With The Christmas Bell Ringers-Joyeaux Noel
Dorothy Collins-Season's Greetings In Song
Slim Boyd-Christmas Country Style
Dartmouth Glee Club-White Christmas On The Campus (Remastered!!!)
Richard Ellsasser-Michael Carr's Wintertime Suite
Billy Crystal-The Christmas Song
John Davidson-My Christmas Favorites
Lynn Anderson-The Christmas Album
The Best Of Christmas In July 2006 From Ernie (Not Bert)
Merry Christmas From Buck Owens & Susan Raye
James Blackwood And The Blackwood Brothers Combine With Hovie Lister And The Statesmen To Wish You A Musical Merry Christmas

Whew! If any of those were new, I'd say I'd been a busy little elf. But only the two Thanksgiving tracks and the Dartmouth Glee Club are new. Well, maybe if I keep up this frenetic pace, no one will notice that I'm repeating myself. Maybe...

Do Not Look Directly Down Barrel

I photographed this osprey while I was out shooting tonight. You wouldn't want to meet this guy in a dark alley. Well, I guess he's not all that mean, unless you happen to be a fish. If you're a fish, he's gonna tear you fin from fin.

The Fisher King

One of the birds I am always on the lookout for but never see is the kingfisher. Well, I shouldn't say never, but it's pretty rare. There was one flying around tonight as I was shooting, though. He kept flying back and forth, but never landing in view. Well, once. And that was all I needed.

Like Clockwork

As expected, the sun went down this evening. And I happened to be there with my new 7D, my rented 400mm lens and a monopod. The only thing I was missing was sufficient memory for said camera. This camera uses compact flash memory, same as the camera before last. Back then, at 8 megapixels, 10.5 gigabytes seemed like a lot of memory. Now, at 18 megapixels, I think 40 gigabytes is going to be closer to the mark. But I did put what little memory I had to good use, and caught these two great blue herons as they enjoyed the sunset.

The Blackwoods Versus The Statesmen

I'm resharing this, my favorite Gospel Christmas music LP, with you today because I think it ties in nicely with something Lee posted over at his great blog, Music You (Possibly) Won't Hear Anyplace Else. My share features both The Blackwood Brothers and The Statesmen (alone and together) and Lee has a full LP by The Blackwood Brothers. How can you go wrong with that? All we need to fill this out is an LP of Christmas music by The Statesmen. Does such a thing exist? Nothing is coming to mind, but anything is possible. Anyhow, I first shared this out back in 2007, but now's your chance to download James Blackwood And The Blackwood Brothers Combine With Hovie Lister And The Statesmen To Wish You A Musical Merry Christmas (RCA Victor LPM-2606, Mono, 1962).

1. O Come, All Ye Faithful-The Blackwood Brothers & The Statesmen
2. Silver Bells-The Blackwood Brothers
3. Go Tell It On The Mountain-The Statesmen
4. Praises To Our King-The Blackwood Brothers
5. White Christmas-The Statesmen
6. Christmas Means Christ To Me-The Blackwood Brothers
7. Joy To The World!-The Blackwood Brothers & The Statesmen
8. Christmas Time Is Here-The Statesmen
9. O Little Town Of Bethlehem-The Blackwood Brothers
10. Away In A Manger-The Statesmen
11. O Holy Night!-The Blackwood Brothers
12. Silent Night! Holy Night!-The Statesmen

Susan & Buck, Buck & Susan

Here's one that I haven't shared out in a few years. I first shared it out way back in 2005, then again in 2006, but it's been MIA until now. I thought for sure this one was heading out to us on CD, but it still hasn't seen the light of day. No idea why that it, but far be it from me to sit around and wait when it comes to a record this good. Please be my guest and download Merry Christmas From Buck Owens & Susan Raye (Capitol ST-837, Stereo, 1971).

1. One Of Everything You Got
2. Home On Christmas Day
3. All I Want For Christmas Is My Daddy
4. A Very Merry Christmas
5. It's Not What You Give
6. Good Old Fashioned Country Christmas
7. Christmas Isn't Christmas Without You
8. Santa Looked A Lot Like Daddy
9. Santa's Gonna Come In A Stagecoach
10. Tomorrow Is Christmas Day

The Best, 2006 Style

Christmas isn't the only time of year I get into the Holiday spirit around here. Each July since 2006, I post a small clutch of tracks each day that seem to have a little bit of that Christmas magic in them, only none of them come from Christmas albums. I'm sure you've occasionally stumbled across one of these songs yourself. It's right in the middle of a regular album, a song that features sleigh bells or talks about snow falling down or Santa being there soon. I've always enjoyed these little surprises, and started collecting them years ago. Now, I actively seek them out and share them here. Some years, it adds up to a couple hundred songs! And when I get the chance, I wade through all of them and make a best-of collection, like the one you see above from the inaugural year, 2006. If all this sounds like the sort of thing you'd like to listen to, please be my guest and download the collection. Below is the track list, and each track links back to the day it was shared. There's lots more good music at those links, so if you're interested, and you have a fully paid RapidShare account, please have a look-see.

1. Clebanoff-Bobsled
2. Ted Heath/Edmundo Ros-Baby It's Cold Outside
3. Lionel Hampton-Gin For Christmas
4. Marty Gold-High On A Windy Hill
5. Eastman-Rochester Pops-Brazilian Sleigh Bells
6. Dinah Washington-I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm
7. Henry Mancini-Latin Snowfall
8. Yuji Takizawa & His Blue Bones Orchestra-White X-mas
9. Will Glahé-The Skater's Waltz
10. Esquivel-Sun Valley Ski Run
11. Billy Vaughn-The Chipmunk Song
12. Percy Faith-Little Bells And Big Bells (Glocke Und Glockchen)
13. Lawrence Welk-The Merry Christmas Polka
14. Jerry Murad's Electronic Harmonicats-March Of The Toys
15. Richard Hayman & His Harmonica Orchestra-Parade Of The Wooden Soldiers
16. Ian Fraser & His Orchestra-Sleigh Ride
17. Eddie Layton-Winter Wonderland
18. The Smothers Brothers-Swiss Christmas
19. David Rose-Christmas Tree
20. Eydie Gormé-Winter Night
21. Bernie Green With The Stereo Mad-Men-The Skater And His Dog
22. Enoch Light & The Brass Menagerie-My Favorite Things
23. The Four Freshmen-Santa Claus Is Flat Gonna Come To Town
24. David Carroll-The Ski Song (Slalom)
25. The Monterey Brass-We Need A Little Christmas
26. The Three Suns-Busy Holiday
27. Six Fat Dutchmen-Sleigh Bell
28. Billy May-Snowfall Cha-Cha
29. Dick Schory's New Percussion Ensemble-Holiday In A Hurry
30. Armengol-Ave Maria
31. The Crew-Cuts-Auld Lang Syne

A Country Queen

Somebody mentioned this LP the other day, and I had forgotten that I shared it out here at the blog way back in 2005. It's not in the best of shape, but good luck on finding another one. I can't remember the last time I saw one. I'm sure you'll enjoy it if you download Lynn Anderson-The Christmas Album (Columbia C 30957, 1971, Stereo).

1. Ding-A-Ling The Christmas Bell
2. Jingle Bell Rock
3. The Spirit Of Christmas
4. Rudolph, The Red-Nosed Reindeer
5. Soon It Will Be Christmas Day
6. I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus
7. Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree
8. Mr. Mistletoe
9. A Whistle And A Whisker Away
10. Frosty The Snowman
11. Don't Wish Me Merry Christmas

Way Back When

Here's a really old one that I haven't shared in a long time. This was something I shared back in 2005 and I don't think I've seen hide nor hair of it since then. I remember John Davidson from Hollywood Squares, but I guess he had quite the singing career prior to that. It was during that time that he released John Davidson-My Christmas Favorites (Columbia P 13348, Stereo,1969).

1. What Child Is This
2. The First Noel
3. O Come, All Ye Faithful
4. Hark, The Herald Angels Sing
5. O Holy Night
6. Mary's Little Boy Child
7. The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire)
8. Winter Wonderland
9. White Christmas
10. Silver Bells
11. Santa Claus Is Coming To Town

It's Been A Long Long Time

As I visit the ghosts of Christmas past here at Ernie (Not Bert), I find more and more stuff that I shared out my first year, and haven't revisited very often since. Take this single for instance. I re-shared it in 2006, but not in 2007 or 2008. Here it is 2009 and I'm getting nostalgic for the past, so here's Billy Crystal-The Christmas Song (A&M AM-2795, 1985, Stereo).

1. The Christmas Song
2. The Christmas Song-Edit

Winter, Christmas, Whatever

I absolutely loved this record when I found it last year. When I finally got around to recording and listening to it, not so much. It's nice enough, but nothing special. Hopefully you'll be much more charitable. Get busy and download Richard Ellsasser-Michael Carr's Wintertime Suite (MGM E3284 (Richard Ellsasser Playing The Organ of the John Hays Hammond, Jr. Museum, Gloucester, Massachusetts), Mono, 1955). Better get busy...Christmas is coming.

1. King Winter
2. Happy Fat Man (With A Sleigh Full Of Toys)
3. Winter In Mexico
4. Home For Christmas
5. Winter Setting
6. December Has A Warm Heart
7. Red Indian Snowman
8. Eight Very Busy Little Reindeer
9. Star In The East
10. Holly And Ivy And Mistletoe
11. Jack Frost, Incorporated
12. Ring In The New Year

Making Right What Once Went Wrong

I shared out this great LP last year against my better judgment. There's some great music on here, but my copy was pretty beat. There was even one song that skipped so badly I just left the whole thing out. But this year I found another copy, still mono, but in much better shape. Only problem was, one of the track had some electronic noise in the pressing. But I was able to use a short section from last year's recording and splice it into the new one. You'll only notice if you're listening closely, and then only because of a little extra surface noise in the area. In fact, I'm sure you wouldn't notice if I hadn't told you. But I did. Oh, this is something I just today recorded for you guys. I was only going to record the one track I omitted last year, but the vinyl sounded so much better, I wound up doing the whole thing. I'm still trying to throw some new stuff in amongst the repeats, I hope this counts... So please download and enjoy this new version of Dartmouth Glee Club-Paul R. Zeller, Director-White Christmas On The Campus (United Artists UAL 3102, Mono, 1961).

1. Happy Holiday
2. O Come All Ye Faithful
3. White Christmas
4. Angels We Have Heard On High
5. The Secret Of Christmas
6. What Child Is This?
7. The Christmas Song
8. Lo How A Rose E'er Blooming
9. Sleigh Ride
10. The First Noel
11. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
12. Mid Ox And Ass
13. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
14. Here A Torch Jeanette Isabella
15. Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
16. Jingle Bells

Slim Versus Tex

Do me a favor, head on over to The Tuna Melt and download Voldar's share of Tex Johnson And His Six Shooters-Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer, then come back here and download Slim Boyd & The Rangehands-Christmas Country Style-Go Tell It On The Mountain (Premiere XM 11, Mono). Now listen to the tracks that both records have in common. Anything sound familiar? Yes, I think it's just another repackaging job from the fine folks at Synthetic Plastics. Not that the music isn't good, it's just become rather tainted by the repeated re-releases, re-titling and re-artisting. At this point, it's just become a rehash. Anyhow, speaking of re-releases, I first shared this with you in 2006, I think, and I had a stereo version ripped for sharing this year when I lost my hard drive. Maybe next year...

1. Go Tell It On The Mountain
2. On December 5 And 20
3. Wagon On Christmas
4. I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day
5. Jeanette Isabella
6. Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer
7. The Night Before Christmas
8. A Santa Claus Greeting
9. Have A Merry, Merry Christmas
10. Silent Night

Dorothy (Not Gary)

Before you even think about downloading this share, I want you to head on over to Big 10-Inch Record, say hi to my friend Buster, and download his Christmas share of Dorothy Collins' super-rare, never seen, extremely good, full-length Christmas record. It's titled Won't You Spend Christmas With Me, and did I say it's really good? Buster shared it with me privately two years ago (after I had shared this very EP), and I enjoyed it. As I do with things I like, I tried to find a copy for myself. And it's been two years of miserable failure. You just cannot find this record anywhere. Not GEMM, not eBay, not thrift stores, nowhere. So you really should go over there and download it from Buster's blog, because you aren't going to find it on the shelf at FYE. And you should ad Big 10-Inch to you regular reading list. Always lots of good shares over there. And plenty of Christmas, if my guess is correct.

Now that I've got that out of my system, here's a little EP that Dorothy Collins recorded some time later, I think, for Sinclair Oil, I think, on which she shares credit with her then-husband, the great Raymond Scott. Nothing on here is nearly so good as the stuff on the LP above, but it's nice to have. (Dorothy had a couple of Christmas singles on Coral as well, including Mr. Santa & The Twelve Gifts of Christmas.) So to help complete your collection, please download Dorothy Collins-Season's Greetings In Song (A Top Rank Artist 117058/117059).


1. Jingle Bells
2. White Christmas
3. Deck The Halls
4. Oh Holy Night

60 Franch Girls

This really has nothing much at all to do with the LP I'm posting, but I just wanted to get it off my chest. I've been sharing this album out since 2005, and all these years, I've been too lazy to change the name of the download file. It should be 60 French Girls, not 60 Franch Girls. I pride myself on doing a pretty good job with my shares, both the audio and the image files. But I guess spelling isn't my strong suit. I think once you get inside the ZIP file, everything is OK, but I'm not sure. So if you can get past the Franch description, please download Les Djinnes Singers-60 French Girls With The Christmas Bell Ringers-Joyeaux Noel (ABC Paramount ABCS 397, 1961, Stereo).

01. Les Djinns Singers-Minuit, Chretriens (O, Holy Night)
02. Les Djinns Singers-Nuit Des Nuit (Silent Night)
03. Christmas Bell Ringers-Good King Wenceslas
04. Les Djinns Singers-Il Est Ne Divin Enfant (He Is Born A Divine Child)
05. Les Djinns Singers-Noel 'Trois Anges Sont Venus Ce Soir' (Christmas 'Three Angels We've Seen This Night')
06. Christmas Bell Ringers-Hark, The Herald Angels Sing
07. Les Djinns Singers-Non Beau Sapin (O Tannenbaum)
08. Les Djinns Singers-Pour Noel (For Christmas)
09. Christmas Bell Ringers-God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
10. Les Djinns Singers-Noel, C'est L'Amour (Christmas, This Is Love)
11. Les Djinns Singers-Noel Blanc (White Christmas)
12. Christmas Bell Ringers-O, Come All Ye Faithful

As you can see by the tracklist above, there are really two artists on this album. To the best of my knowledge, they do not perform together at any point.

Let Me Get It Over With

Perhaps my best share ever. Let me go ahead and get it out of the way early this year so you can all get your fill of it. Yes, this is María Rosario Pilar Martínez Molina Moquiere de les Esperades Santa Ana Romanguera y de la Najosa Rasten, but you probably know her as Charo. Get ready to dance, dance, dance to Charo-(Mamacita) ¿Donde Esta Santa Claus? , (Salsoul SG 201, 1978, Stereo).

1. (Mamacita) ¿Donde Esta Santa Claus?
2. (Mamacita) ¿Donde Esta Santa Claus?-Instrumental

For The Santa On The Corner

As I mentioned in my last post, I opened the 2007 Christmas Sharity Season with two groovy albums, and this is the second of those. Like the first, it's really short. That one was short because it was one sided. This one is short because I only recorded the Christmas side of it. Side two was hymns, and I didn't think it fit very well. But side one is really, really good. I'm sure you'll enjoy it, especially O Little Town Of Bethlehem. So go get The Joy Strings-Well Seasoned (Epic BN 26321, Stereo, 1967?)

1. We Three Kings Of Orient Are
2. Silent Night, Holy Night
3. The Little King Jesus
4. O Little Town Of Bethlehem
5. Away In A Manger
6. Mary's Little Boy Child
7. Do You Hear What I Hear?
8. The Holly And The Ivy

Tonight's Moon

I went out to shoot the sunset at the beach this evening, which I may or may not share pictures of, but I noticed that the moon was already up, so I couldn't pass up the shot. This is the view as seen by my new 7D combined with a 400mm lens. Compare this to some of my older shots with fewer pixels and cheaper optics, and you'll see that it's a much better picture. Gotta love progress!

Get Going

As the only major American automaker not to file for bankruptcy this year, I have a little more respect for Ford than I used to. But then I pull out this record and it all goes away. I first shared this in 2007, in fact, it was one of two similarly groovy records that I opened the sharity season with that year. If you missed it then, you really, really need to download Christmas 1968 With The Going Thing (Private Pressing for Ford XCSV-141473, One-sided, Stereo, 1968). Trust me.

1. Introduction by John Naughton
2. The Christmas Song
3. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
4. My Christmas Tree
5. Silent Night
6. The Christmas Waltz

A Rose By Pretty Much The Same Name

Here's a great late-season share from 2006 I wanted to bring back. David Rose is best know for The Stripper, but much of his music was less forward than that song, much smoother and silkier. This collection of Christmas standards from 1956 certainly won't make anyone jump up and start shedding clothes. That shouldn't stop you from downloading and listening to A Merry Christmas To You From David Rose And His Orchestra (MGM E3469, 1956, Mono). All the songs are mashed up into two side-long medleys, I'm afraid. Did I mention this is smooth stuff?

Tracks include:

O Little Town Of Bethlehem
O Christmas Tree
Jolly Old Saint Nicholas
Good King Wenceslas
O Holy Night
Hark, The Herald Angels Sing
It Came Upon The Midnight Clear
While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks By Night
Away In A Manger
We Three Kings Of Orient Are
Deck The Hall With Holly
The First Noel
Joy To The World
The Twelve Days Of Christmas
I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day
I Saw Three Ships
Unto Us A Boy Was Born
Wassail Song
Angels, From The Realms Of Glory
Christmas Is Coming
Angels, We Have Heard On High
Toyland
Silent Night
O, Come All Ye Faithful

Big Bird

Continuing on with new pictures from my new D7, here's an extreme close-up of a sandhill crane yesterday. There was a flock of four of these guys wandering around in the neighbors yard. I stalked them for quite a while, actually filling up my memory card with pictures. I won't bore you with all of those, but I wanted to show you at least one. This is a full-size shot from my new camera, not cropped at all. This answers a question I've had about these birds and was never sure of the answer. The red part is skin, not feathers. You can zoom in close on this picture and see the little red, fleshy bumps next to the smooth gray feathers. Pretty cool.

Success Story, Volume 1

I've shared out many, many Christmas records over the years, and only one thing has linked them all together. They have not been available on CD or as legal downloads. Well, as you might imagine, things change. What used to be obscure and forgotten somehow becomes remembered, and when that happens, things become available again. Such is the case with many of my old shares, and I feel that's a good thing. If you can pay a little money to listen to some great old music, and (hopefully) some of it goes to support the artist (or their family), I think you should. I like to think that by once featuring an album here, I somehow helped to bring it back to the attention of the world. Anyhow, the net effect of all that blathering is that this George Wright LP is now available legitimately, and I'm going to point you towards it.

If you'd like to own George Wright At The Wurlitzer Pipe Organ-Merry Christmas (HiFi SR706, Stereo), then head on over to Amazon and download it there. I'm not sure if they're selling a mono or stereo version, though. They show the mono cover but there's a good chance the download is stereo. For the record, the mono one is George Wright At The Wurlitzer Pipe Organ-Merry Christmas (HiFi R706, 1956, Mono). Now, go be a responsible citizen and buy what you can't download for free anymore. I always did love these covers...

The Wright One

Here's a little favorite from years past, and the first of many organ records you'll see here at Ernie (Not Bert) this year. I'm sure many old record collectors are familiar with George Wright through the dozens and dozens of records he released over the years. If there's a song you like written before 1970, there's a good chance George has recorded it somewhere. And that includes an awful lot of Christmas music, on both this LP and another (but more on that other one later). Please be my guest and download George Wright At The Wurlitzer Pipe Organ-Christmas Time (Dot DLP 25479, 1962, Stereo).

1. Santa Claus Is Coming To Town
2. Silver Bells
3. The Little Drummer Boy
4. What Child Is This (Greensleeves)
5. White Christmas
6. Deck The Halls
7. God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen
8. O Little Town Of Bethlehem
9. With Quiet Joy
10. Lo, How A Rose E'er Blooming
11. The Christmas Song
12. Silent Night

Lighthouse

This is an LP I first shared out in 2007, but part of it was shared out on an EP around here in 2006. None of that really matters, but I need to say something about it and I don't know what. It's a nice collection of carols sung by a chorus from the Lighthouse School. I think these days it's part of Lighthouse International, but I'm not certain. Oh, last year I talked a little bit about the cover artist, so if you want to learn more about that, follow the link. If all you want is the music, then please download Christmas Carols By The Lighthouse Singers (Vik SPV-2, Mono).

1. Silent Night, Holy Night
2. O Come, All Ye Faithful
3. Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
4. The First Noel
5. Ave Maria
6. Oh Little Town Of Bethlehem
7. O Holy Night
8. It Came Upon A Midnight Clear
9. Joy To The World
10. The Lord's Prayer

Mr. Melis

Here's a great record that I don't think I've re-shared in quite a while. José Melis was the musical director on the original Jack Parr-version of The Tonight Show, among other things. This is an album you almost never see, and I'm going to make sure that it gets seen more often. You won't be disappointed if you go now and download José Melis And His Orchestra-Christmas With Melis (Seeco CELP 4230, 1958, Stereo).

Side 1:

1. Sleigh Bells
2. Winter Wonderland
3. The Story Of Christmas
4. Jingle Bells
5. Toy Piano
6. Merry Christmas Music

Side 2:

7. Silent Night
8. Adeste Fidelis
9. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
10. It Came Upon A Midnight Clear
11. Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
12. Oh! Little Town Of Bethlehem; Noel, Noel; Silent Night

The New Camera, The Old Tree

OK, I did it. I ordered a new camera. After my Rebel XSi broke at the shuttle launch, I knew I needed to get something. Something bigger, better and in my hands. Fixing my camera is going to cost a few hundred dollars, but more urgently, it's going to take six weeks or so. With the holidays well inside that six week window, I couldn't wait. So I ordered a brand spanking new Canon 7D. This is the top of the line crop sensor camera from Canon, and they don't come much better than this. I just got in via UPS on Wednesday, and today was my first chance to take it outside and put it through it's paces. I have to carry the instruction manual around with it, because I don't know how to do many of the things I want to do yet, and with so many buttons, wheels and even a little joystick, it's hard to find things at a glance. I've still got my rented 100-400mm lens from the shuttle launch, and combined with this 18 megapixel sensor, I got some great picture of small birds from far away. You've seen the old tree behind my parent's house many times before, and I've probably brought you pictures of this very same kestrel before, but never this clear. I've cropped all of these picture down to almost 1:1, so click on them and see just how well this camera/lens combination works.

That old tree is home to not only the kestrel at top, but also this woodpecker and an occasional buzzard.


I didn't catch this hawk actually in the tree, but he did fly past in a big hurry. I managed to get this and one other shot of him in the air before he hid in the non-dead trees.

Another Filmstrip

Since I re-shared the Thanksgiving filmstrip soundtrack with you earlier, it's only fitting that I also re-share this Christmas filmstrip soundtrack from last year. The narration on this one tells all about how we got our various Christmas customs, or at least how they like to imagine we got some of them. I don't think they are altogether correct on some of this. But you can be the judge of that. Please help yourself to Maurice Copeland-How We Got Our Christmas Customs (Society For Visual Education A860-3RR (One-Sided 12" 33 RPM), Mono).

Christmas 2009

Well, I think it's high time I get this party started. Not that there's going to be much of a party this year, but you know what I mean. A couple of weeks ago, the hard drive on my PC went dead. It took all of the Christmas stuff with it that Id recorded for sharing in the past year and a half. So there's not much in the old kitty this year to throw up on the blog. But I do hope to get something up here every once in a while that you haven't seen before, but you're also going to have lots and lots of repeats here. Hopefully this will satisfy some of the new folks, but I know it's going to leave some of you high and dry. Sorry about that, but those are the breaks. Please check back often, hopefully you'll find something you missed the first time around.

Thanksgiving, 2009, Part 3

I promised some new Thanksgiving music, and here you go. These are two tracks I found back in July when I was searching for new Christmas music. Track one is called Thanksgiving Day, and it's from the LP Hits From The Gang Shows (Fontanta 680932TL TFL.5104, Mono). Ken Jones is credited with running the orchestra, but the vocal chorus is uncredited. I'm afraid I don't know anything about these gang shows, but since this appears to be a UK release, perhaps someone from across the pond can fill us in. The other track, and my favorite, is The Big Clown Balloons, performed by The Merrill Stanton Voices from their LP Meredith Willson's Here's Love (Columbia Special Products CSRP 8899, 1963, Stereo). Here's Love was Meredith Willson's follow-up to The Music Man, and it doesn't seem to have been nearly so popular. It's basically a musical re-write of Miracle On 34th Street, and that might explain why they are singing about the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. Those of you with good memories might recall that I shared a couple of Christmas-themed tracks from this same LP back during Christmas In July (here and here). But for these two tracks, you can get the download here. Hope you are all enjoying your Turkey Day, and I'll see you later on this evening.

Thanksgiving, 2009, Part 2

Here's the soundtrack to a filmstrip about Thanksgiving that I first shared out last year. I kept hoping someone would put together a slideshow that went along with this, but no one ever did. Oh, well. Maybe this year. Anyhow, download this one before the end of the day and you'll be able to amaze you frineds with your knowledge of Squanto And The First Thanksgiving (Society For Visual Education XTAC-83759 (One Sided 12" 33 RPM), Mono). Enjoy!

Thanksgiving, 2009

Well, here we are. Thanksgiving Day, 2009. Seems like just last year I was celebrating Christmas 2008, and now it's time to start all over again. Well, this is the fifth time I've shared this song with you, and it's become the official Thanksgiving kick-off song for Ernie (Not Bert). For a long time this was the only Thanksgiving song I had, but I think I found a couple more for this year. Stay tuned... But for now, please download the first song of the season, Spencer Ross-Thanksgiving Day Parade (Columbia 4-41532 7" 45 RPM single, Mono, 1960).

A Bird's Nest In The Hand

Right before I went and shot the shuttle launch, I was at my parent's house. And Mom pointed out these weird things growing in one of her flower beds. Unfortunately, it was after dark when she showed them to me. It took me almost half an hour of setting up the flash and a tripod to get this picture of the odd fungi she'd discovered. Turns out that this is some sort of bird's nest fungi, not altogether uncommon, I guess. I'd never seen it before. You can see how the little structures inside the opened pods look like eggs in a nest. What you lack here is some sort of scale. Each of those openings is about 3/16" across. The little pieces of wood are toothpick-sized mulch.

Eight Space Shuttles

I know you guys are getting antsy to see some space shuttle pictures, so here's a little composite I threw together. You can see space shuttle Atlantis on STS-129 this past Monday lifting off from pad 39-A at Cape Kennedy. Pretty cool, eh? I took these shots with my Rebel XSi set on manual at 1/400 of a second, f/8, ISO 200. I used a 400mm lens on a 1.6 crop sensor for a length of almost 650mm, and with a polarizing filter to boot. Oh, and did I mention I was 6 miles away? I thought these were awfully good for being so far away.

Breakthrough

When we arrived at Kennedy Space Center Monday morning, the sky was pretty thickly overcast. I began to worry that the launch would be postponed due to poor weather. However, it slowly broke up after about 10 am, but the sky never fully cleared. I guess a few clouds didn't really hurt anything, and may have even helped a little bit. I got this neat picture as Atlantis flew through a low cloud, lighting it up from the inside in a rather spectacular fashion.

Uh-Oh, Part 2

Well, bad luck just seems to follow me around some days. And it seems to be following even more closely lately. After losing my entire hard drive a week or so ago, yesterday I lost my camera. Well, I didn't lose it, but it no longer works. After shooting the shuttle launch as far as the separation of the SRBs, I turned my camera back towards the pad to get some pictures of the lingering steam and smoke. I didn't notice anything odd until the camera quit auto-focusing. I took my eye away from the viewfinder to see a message on the screen. Error 99, it said. Turn the camera off then back on, it said. But that didn't help, it just came right back. I'd seen an error 99 before when I rented an incompatible lens. Pulling the battery out for a second worked then, but not this time. I tried the battery, the battery holder, the lens itself, the memory card, nothing made a difference. Once I got back to a computer, I loaded up the pictures from the memory card (for a while I was worried that none of my pictures would be there, but they were OK). The last dozen or so pictures on the chip were obscured, as if something was in front of the lens, but I knew there had been nothing there while I was shooting. The three pictures you see here are the last three shots from the launch.

After much messing around with the camera itself and some internet searches, I finally discovered that it's a shutter problem. Digital cameras have shutters just like regular cameras. The shutter exposes the image sensor to light for the prescribed amount of time, just as it would expose film. Well, when I peek behind the mirror in my camera, I see the closed shutter when I should normally be able to see the image sensor. I've got a feeling the price of fixing the camera is going to be all too close to the price of a replacement camera.

I suppose I should be happy that my camera didn't break until after the launch. Five minutes earlier and I wouldn't have gotten any of the awesome pictures I did. But I'm still unhappy that it's broken. Anyhow, stay tuned for some of the more awesome final pictures from my camera.

Shuttle Atlantis

I'm dead tired at the moment, but I wanted to get something up quick. I just got home from watching the launch of the Space Shuttle Atlantis. It went off without a hitch on the first try at the designated time. I was 6 miles away on a NASA causeway with 1846 other ticket holders. I got some pretty impressive pictures, of which this is just one. Stay tuned...